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i was at the saturday salcedo market this weekend (again), and came across two novelties for me. the first (as pictured above) was wild thai eggplant (solanum melongena, solanum torvum, or solanum undatum, i'm not sure. fruit blog, help!), some as tiny as capers and the largest no bigger than a centimeter, centimeter and a half in diameter, but assured to be completely edible as is. they were completely appealing to me--little tumescent jade jewels clustered like gaudy ornaments; only joan crawford in her matriarchal PepsiCo chairman's wife years could pull off a brooch like that. i am rarely inclined to cook when i'm in town, but i was so very tempted to buy some; however, i'm at a complete loss as to how these would be best prepared. anybody out there have a recipe for me?

directly beside it lay this fascinating herb that is completely unbeknownst to me. the leaves look like tiny lotus or waterlily pads, and it carries no real scent aside from the greeniness of the chlorophyll. wait. i take that back; it is not completely unfamiliar, as i think i may have seen it amongst the greenery on many a post from the pieman, and special combo affirms the suspicion that it may be used in vietnamese cooking. still, i am unsure. can someone clue me in?

anon--these look quite similar, but i don't think they are. we have nasturtiums growing in pots, and the leaves are slightly larger, darker, and fuzzier. i like nasturtium flowers in salads, but didn't realize you could also eat the leaves. thanks for the tip!

santos, you truly have me stumped. I took out several reference books and have been unable to identify this herb/leaf. But I haven't given up...will still have to search some more. The leaf shape looks kinda like Lady's mantle or Dewcup but I amnot sure. If all else fails, I will try and catch up with Gil Carandang the next time I am in Salcedo to ask him about this...you were at his stand...

Hope it's not too late to offer a comment on the unknown herb. I think it's "pennywort", and in Malaysia, we call it "pegaga". It has some medicinal values too - see http://66.45.20.235/food/special/1999/asian/pennywort.html

Though I rarely stray into the field of vegetables, I'm going to guess Solanum torvum. Wild thai eggplant in my book here is listed as Solanum undatum, but it looks like S. torvum to me. It's not S. melongena.

The leaves are what we Malaysian would call 'pegaga'. It tastes slightly bitter, and reportedly said to have the same medicinal value as the bitter gourd. It's usually eaten as an 'ulam', or raw salad dipped with sambal sauce, with belacan. It can also be made into a refreshing health drink.

DISCLAIMER: this is a personal journal with no desires to be anything but. it contains my opinion with occasional fact thrown in; recipes have been tested where noted, in an unairconditioned kitchen in the tropics. YMMV. for my sake and yours, consult a professional!